Improvement in complex-coupon railroad-tickets



Complex Coupon Railroad Ticket.

No. l66,343 Patented Aug.3,1sl75..

.PsmisA PHOTO-UTNOGRAFNER. wAsmNG'mN. D C.

'Unrrnn STATES' PATENT Ormea.

THOMAS COOK, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMPLEX-COUPON RAILROAD-TICKETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 166,343, dated August 3, '1875; application filed September 22, 1873.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, THOMAS COOK, of London, England, ha-ve invented a certain new and useful lmprovement in Complex-Coupon Railroad-Tickets.

My invention consists in combining a series or set of tickets which are good for passage over geographically consecutive routes with a general descriptive or contract stub, so that any one of the tickets, or all of them, may be separately detached from the stub without detaching others; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, with the accompanying illustrative drawings, contains a true and accurate description thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide a complex-coupon route-ticket, each of the several coupons of which will constitute a contract for the furnishing of one or more passages over a series of y geographically consecutive routes, and return, or simply from one point to another, and which will admit of the retention, with the general descriptive or contract stub, of any number of the intermediate tickets, which the traveler may not have found it in his pleasure or to his interest to have used.

, Referring to the drawings,'Figure l represents one of my complex-coupon route-tickets. Figs. 2 to 7, inclusive, represent the stubs and tickets detached. Fig. 2 represents the general descriptive and contract stub. In its general form it may be compared to the two covers of a book. On the front outside the general route will preferably be described, and

- such advertisements concerning the same as may be properly placed thereon. The front inside will generally contain printed regulations to be observed by the traveler, and the terms of the contract under which the ticket is tendered to and accepted by the tourist. The inner and outer surface of the rear cover will preferably be devoted to a duplication of the rules, Ste., in one or more different lan'- guages. Fig. 3 represents the special descriptive stub, on which is usually stated the starting and objective points of the route for which the ticket is issued-as, for instance, from A t0 D, or D to A, via B, O, and E, when a return-ticket is desired over a different route, or from A to D, or D to A, via B and G, when only one through-trip is desired. Heretofore coupon route-tickets have been issued with a descriptive stub, to which, in a consecutive series, all of the tickets were attached. Should a traveler meeting friends proceeding by other routes, or for other reasons of his own, take an intermediate passage-for instance, from B tovO-by a route not indicated-in the contract,

vhe would not be able to utilize-that ticket by the route taken; and when, on continuing the journey from O to D, the ticket was presented for passage, the unused ticket would be necessarily detached from the general stub, on account of the removal of the one actually used and next succeeding.

Under special contracts, drawback is allowed for all intermediate tickets not used, and it is of great importance, to guard-against fraud and collusion between transit officials and travelers, that the general stub be retained by the traveler, with the unused tickets attached thereto, for presentation at the issuing-office, or a branch thereof, for receipt of such drawback as may be due thereon. Each of the several tickets may be printed in two or more different languages, and bothsides thereof may be employed for this purpose.

It will be seen that the general stub may, if desired, receive the subject-matter of the special stub, in which case this latter may be dispensed with, as it is only the proper identification of the stub with any of those used, and its continued connection with the unused coupons, that is desired, and that these points are as well secured by the use of one single stub as by two stubs connected as described.

In Figs. 8 to 12 I'Lhave represented another form of ticket, which embodies the spirit of my invention in having a general descriptive and contract stub, to which all of the several tickets are connected, and from which any one or more of them may be singly detached Without in any essential manner affecting the pre-existing relations between those remaining and the stub. Each ticket is provided with a special descriptive stub, from which it may be detached at a perforated line, as usual with coupon-tickets. The contract-stub with this form of ticket need contain no reference to the route, as the tickets themselves prior to use, and the special stubs remaining thereafter, constitute ample description for all practical usage, and, therefore, one form of geueral stub will be suitable for all routes. The several tickets and the contract-stub are united by ties, through or adjacent to all of the stubs. This latter form of ticket may be made up readily, on call, of such route-tickets as the tourist may at the time desire, instead of his being forced to choose from several predetermined routes, as would be necessary if the stub contained a statement of route, as with ticket previously described. In making up the complex ticket from the separate tickets with special descriptive stubs, any rapid and eii'ective method of securing` them may be employed. In practice eyelets have been used with good results. As a brief memorandum of the tour the several descriptive stubs and the general stub remain in the hands of the tourist for future reference. In practice it will be advisable to employ a simple system of identication on all the tickets and the general stub, and this may be practically eected by perforated letters extending simultaneously through all the tickets after having been made up 5 or, if of too great bulk, the perforatiousmay extend from the front portion of the stub through halt' of the tickets, and from the rear side through the remaining portion thereof.

As heretofore made, prior to my invention, coupon route-tickets have been provided with a general stub, to which all of the tickets, printed on a continuous slip, were consecutively attached, and froln which no intermediate ticket could be detached Without at some time separating from the stub all the tickets which were on the outer side of said intermediate ticket.

I am aware that it has long been a custom for short-route companies to issue packages of duplicate tickets in book form, from which any number of tickets could be detached as Wanted. Such packages of tickets have no practical resemblance to my complex-coupon rollte-ticket, for the covers of such packages have no such signicance as the stub of a coupon-ticket, nor is the matter of sequence or non-sequence in the use of such tickets a matter of the least consequence; nor is it essential, or desirable even, that unused tickets be allowed to remain with the covers, except so far as they afford a convenient receptacle therefor. My invention consists not merely in the uniting of several tickets to one stub, as described, but in uniting, as ldescribed, tickets which are good for geographically consecutive routes, the Whole constituting a complete and perfect complex-coupon route-ticket, which meets the varied requirements of the tourist, the transit companies, and the pas sage-ticket agents. On some occasions it will be desirable to` make up a complex ticket for more than 011e person-as, for instance, for a family-in which case the required number of tickets of each kind may be arranged in proper order. There is, of course, no absolute necessity for having the several tickets arranged consecutively, in accordance with the geo-A graphical sequence, although it will, of course, be preferable that they should be so arranged.

To add to the convenience of the tourist, hotel-coupons can, when desired, be attached to the transit-tickets.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A complex-coupon route-ticket, composed of a set or series ot' passage-tickets which are available over geographically consecutive routes, and a stub which is .common to all of them, and from which each of the several tickets may be separately detached, in or `out of sequence, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

THOMAS COOK. Witnesses:

GEo. SMITH, 0f 94 Constitution Street, Leth,Scotland.

GEORGE FRASER, Jr., 0f 94 Constitution Street, Leith, Scotland. 

